Rick Johnson of Raven Software is looking for a new lead programmer to work on Quake 4. His .plan contains these details:

AI Programmer
This person will be responsible for assisting in the development of single player AI for a Doom3 based product. This person will need to coordinate his/her own efforts with those of the animation department as well as to ensure proper level design and use of the AI.

Qualified applicants should be familiar with / demonstrate:
* Microsoft .NET 2003 / C / C++
* Various path finding methods
* Various AI approaches
* Very familiar with current trends in AI, its use in FPS, what makes AI look good / bad
* Quake3's entity system or AAS is desirable
* Experience in the game industry doing single AI or mods which demonstrate single player AI is desirable

Responsibilities will include:
* Implement new creatures through a combination of code and scripting
* Provide feedback to animators on animations or tweaks that are needed
* Provide feedback to designers to help ensure proper construction of levels and to diagnose issues

Applications should either email or mail resumes to:
Raven Software
C/O Rick Johnson
3 Point Place
Suite 1
Madison, WI 53719

rjohnson@ravensoft.com

It seems to me that, well isn't this the first Quake game to use another engine isntead? Granted it's all ultimately owned by iD in one way or another, I just thought the next great Quake would be something we haven't seen before...or this could mean the Doom 3 engine is so spectacular that it will be sufficient for Quake 4. I'm sure it is, I haven't read much on it, but I just presumed that Quake 4 would be using it's own new technology.

One could argue Raven may like to work on other engines more than creating them..? (I too often try to start a little mini-debate here and there, lol)

You could also say, "If it ain't broke..." and get away with that, too.

My only complaint is that, Quake 4 probably won't be pushing future technology very far, as long as it's using an engine that will quickly become old in the coming year or so. I mean, think about it - Doom 3 engine has been in works forever, it will be beautiful for a very long time, however with so much competition before it's even released and such...well, I presume there will be a lot more competition and a lot of new games in 2005 pushing their own new engines trying to break the heat...then you supposedly have the HL2 engine which is really hyped up.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just hoping for more than what is deserved. I'm sure D3 engine is up to the task now, but like I said I like to see technological competition, I think right now it stands between Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 as the most anticipated engines this fall. I just viewed Quake as the starter series that shows the world "how it's meant to be played"...No one plays UT anymore, lots of people still play Q3, I wonder where this puts the next installment of UT (2004 was great, but already done last year)...I suppose this is where the Unreal3 engine may come into play...I've seen screenshots and it looks as good if not better than Doom3 in some places...:o

Most game developers use a great engine to create their games. It's really not much different from modding. They take what already exists and write new content for it. Raven is no exception.

Those that create the game engines, may put out games to go along with the engine, but do so primarily to show off what the engine can do. It it is liked by the public... cool. But what's important is that it is liked by other developers who may be looking to licence the game.

A perfect example is Serious Sam. The point of that game was not to be a great game, but it was to show off what the engine could do. This is why the game was priced so low. They wanted everyone to be able to get their hands on it so the engine would be wanted by other developers.

So, I disagree that the new engines/games coming from raven are going to be more of the same. This just happens to be a case where the engine developer is working along side the game developer (id and Raven). It's now Raven's job to make the game good because id just made another awesome engine.

Yes, it will have similarities to the previous engines, but that's becuase it is based on the same thoughts and ideals. And we can expect something new from id in the future because they have already stated that they want to move on after these releases.